Puna

Puna Sanyashi is a Bhutanese refugee planting the seeds of the American dream in South Dakota.

“I think of myself as an American woman. I can work, and I can do whatever I want. That’s the American woman.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Annie Flanagan

Puna Sanyashi is a 28-year-old mother of two. Nearly six years ago, she moved across the world with her husband and extended family from Nepal to South Dakota, where they began to build a life.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Annie Flanagan

Puna is an employee at the Grand Prairie Foods factory, where she began working soon after her arrival. At first, life in South Dakota was difficult and her family felt deeply isolated. Her work at the factory was instrumental in changing that.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Annie Flanagan

Puna’s boss, Valerie Loudenback, has made it a priority to hire refugees and immigrants. They make up the majority of the workforce in her company’s three factories. She likes helping people build a life in a new country. “That is what makes it so nice, just welcoming them, just the exposure for them to a new culture,” she says. “That’s their very first step.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Annie Flanagan

Valerie pushed Puna to take on more responsibility as a team leader and to work with an English tutor to broaden Puna’s future opportunities. “We like to use what happens here as examples of success stories,” said Valerie. “And it is not my success, it is what they contribute.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Annie Flanagan

Puna and Valerie have become close. “She’s so kind, she loves everybody,” Puna says of Valerie. “Most companies want you to speak English. She hires everybody.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Annie Flanagan

Over the last five years, Puna has taken on greater responsibilities at work. She’s a team leader at the factory, arriving early to set up the line and staying late to do paperwork. Her husband, Chandra Sanyashi, works the night shift.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Annie Flanagan

Grand Prairie Foods is a family-owned factory that makes prepared foods, like breakfast sandwiches, for hotels, hospitals and brands like Hormel.
Factories of all sorts have become increasingly automated, but there’s no easy way to automate putting sausage on a biscuit. The low unemployment rate in Sioux Falls has made workers scarce, which is one of the reasons the Loudenbacks came to rely on the refugee community.
The area’s growing immigrant community has not come without tensions. Last year, refugee resettlement groups decided to bring fewer people to the area, concerned about animosity toward new immigrants. In 2017, President Trump announced he would cap refugee admissions nationwide at 45,000, a historic low.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Annie Flanagan

After she finishes work, Puna comes home and cooks for her family. Puna’s son and mother-in-law, Chabi, often sit by Puna as she makes dinner over the portable gas stove in the garage. “I cook there all the time because if I cook inside it smells bad,” says Puna. “I like my house to smell good.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Annie Flanagan

When the Sanyashi family first arrived in South Dakota, they were among only a handful of Bhutanese and Nepali families in Sioux Falls.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Annie Flanagan

Now they have many neighbors who speak their language, and grow similarly lavish gardens, which they water at dawn and dusk.

Puna lives with ten family members, several of whom are ill or have disabilities. She cares for them all, including her mother-in-law, in addition to working full-time at Grand Prairie.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Annie Flanagan

Three years ago, the Sanyashi family became homeowners, giving them a sense of stability and rootedness in Sioux Falls. “We feel like this is our home and our country,” says Puna. “We are living in our own house. I feel easy here.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Annie Flanagan

Puna’s eldest son, Karan, was an infant when they arrived from Nepal. “I want him to know the Nepali language and English,” she says. “We don’t have to say, ‘He is Nepali,’ or ‘He is American.’”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Annie Flanagan

Puna finally feels settled in South Dakota and able to enjoy her family, her community, and a job that has allowed her stability and space to grow. “This is my first job and probably my last job,” she says.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Annie Flanagan

On Puna’s wall hangs a blown-up photograph of her with Valerie. Puna credits her boss with helping her create a life for her family in South Dakota. “She gave me opportunity,” says Puna. “She said that you can do it. She said don’t go back, if you learn today, you can learn tomorrow, you can do it.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Annie Flanagan

Nearly six years after arriving in the United States, Puna has learned to navigate her work and her life in Sioux Falls. “I know how to do everything,” she says. “I know all the people. I like it better than my country here. I’m not going back.”